By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Tofas made an impressive comeback but the trio of Sasu Salin, Giorgi Shermadini and Marcelinho Huertas handed Lenovo Tenerife a close 78-77 win in Game 1 of the Basketball Champions League quarterfinals.
Salin was fired up right from the start, making five threes already in the first quarter and was the main reason for Tenerife’s 47-33 lead at halftime.
He continued scoring but Tofas ground past the hurdles and managed to bounce back, pushing the game to a close finish. Tofas dominated in points in the paint, fast-break points, points from the bench and grabbed almost two times more offensive rebounds than Tenerife.
The Turks made an 8-0 run at the seven-minute mark and a 70-60 lead for Tenerife, to make a complete comeback. Eventually, they tied the game (77-77) with Pako Cruz’s three-pointer at 18 seconds on the clock.
However, it was all for nothing, as Huertas took the responsibility, drove down the lane, forced a shooting foul, and made the first free throw, missed the second on purpose and sealed the win for Tenerife.
Huertas finished with ten points while Salin banked in 27 on 8-12 from deep. Shermadini showed his presence with 17 points and nine boards. For Tofas, Elgin Cook, Cruz, and Eigirdas Zukauskas had 14 points each.